Sunrise on the Reaping

Just 😭

Did I enjoy this book? Yes.Was it the best book in the Hunger Games Universe? No.Sunrise on the Reaping for me went the opposite way of Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Where I felt like Ballad had too much going on and was quite rushed, at times I felt like Sunrise had too little going on and scenes did not need to be as spread out as they were.As this was a story of HOW Haymitch became who we see 24 years later in the original Hunger Games, I quite enjoyed his personality being different and yet you could still see the hints of who we have come to know and love. Do not listen to people who tell you that you can read this before the original trilogy. You can't, it relies on you knowing information from the original trilogy and Ballad. These books are published in the order they are for a reason.

I love everything in this book, from the first page to the last. I love all the little nods to other books and characters. I the how she tied in everything. There wasn't anything wrong with this book. From the start with haymitch we know he wins. It's been known since the original trilogy. Without spoiling anything I'm just going to say wow the way the games went through, and everything leading up to them always seems to draw me in. Haymitch's mentors made my jaw drop for a second. The way he played the games though was interesting. The end of the book had me in tears a few times. This whole book from start to finish was a masterpiece and probably one of my favorite books so far. Thank you Suzanne Collins for this beautiful story.

4.25Ouch

3.5 stars rounded to 4 stars.Suzanne, you did it with this one.I disliked some of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes because of how much explaining there had to be done to connect what shows up in the main series. It's reminiscent of the Solo movie when it explains every single thing of Han Solo's backstory from the Original Trilogy. This is something I dislike on sight with prequels in general, and I understand with Suzanne Collins' work with this series, history is like poetry, it rhymes. Still, the amount I saw in TBoSaS knocked a star down for me.But that isn't the case here. Maybe because it's with the state of the world right now that Sunrise on the Reaping spoke to me, or maybe because at least with what we saw of Haymitch's Game in Catching Fire, it didn't feel like the author was creating something out of nothing. I don't know how to explain it, but Sunrise on the Reaping just hit me way harder than TBoSaS did. I cried at more parts than I thought I would have, and my heart broke for Haymitch the entire time.Highly recommend and please read - because history is like poetry, it rhymes. Truth is stranger than fiction, because our reality is fast surpassing what we're reading.

I think it was the conclusion and insight into Haymitch that people wanted and deserved.

Screaming crying this book destroyed my life in the best way

I’m unwell. <spoiler> I knew it wasn’t gonna be pretty, but I didn’t expect so much destruction. Haymitch went through so much worse than Katniss. He walked so she could run. </spoiler>

"We’ll paint our own posters. And I know just where we can get the paint."Oh, my heart. I mean sure, we kinda glean from the original trilogy that Haymitch's Games were awful, traumatic and had dire consequences but actually reading it makes my heart hurt.Young Haymitch is nothing like I would've imagined from reading the og books. But you can see why he turned out the way he did and it's heart-wrenching. The complete contrast between pre-Games and post-Games Haymitch is startling but completely expected. I really liked the epilogue too.

"I love you like all fire" 5⭐❤️Wow this was exactly what I hoped it would be.Very intense throughout the whole book, had to shed several tears and off course fell in love again with all the characters.